


The Tip of the Tongue

by DuchessDeeDee



Series: Thai with Ten [1]
Category: NCT (Band), WAYV
Genre: Canon Compliant, China Line - Freeform, Fluff, Kun's secret boyfriend, M/M, Pillow Fight, Pls stop me, Ten teaching Thai, WayV - Freeform, Yangyang the German King, Yuta's bubble tea, and sicheng, foreign swaggers - Freeform, language learning, more rock-paper-scissors, pillow fort, yukhei is obsessed with languages
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-17
Updated: 2019-08-17
Packaged: 2020-09-02 13:35:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,479
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20276743
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DuchessDeeDee/pseuds/DuchessDeeDee
Summary: Donghyuck aggressively points a finger at them. “Don’t lie! You guys are making fun of us.”Yukhei blinks, looking at Sicheng. The elder shrugs, mouth twisted in confusion.“I think what he means is that you guys always speak in Mandarin to each other and none of us can understand,” Mark tries to placate.“I can understand,” Chenle points out.“Nobody likes a show off,” Jaemin huffs.Alternatively, Sicheng and Yukhei speak in Mandarin whenever they’re together and Yukhei attempts to learn five (5) languages at once. The other (non China line) members are getting tired of the constant giggling.





	The Tip of the Tongue

**Author's Note:**

> Oh my god I thought I’d never finish this fic. This is, like, my baby. I've been working on this (big) baby for like an entire half a year.
> 
> In honor of all those poor souls going back to school (including myself), I'm going to attempt to publish a story every day for three days. So. We'll see how that goes.
> 
> Any time they're speaking Mandarin, the text is italicized. It's bolded in Thai.

“Sicheng ge is awesome,” Yukhei tells Jungwoo.

Jungwoo hums, legs swinging on the counter as he waits for his instant ramen to heat up. “You’ve told me that every day since I first met you. I get it. You’ve got a crush on him.”

Yukhei splutters. “What? No, I just think he’s awesome.”

Jungwoo grabs both of Yukhei’s hands between his before he can knock down Kun’s specially ordered antique vase. Yukhei doesn’t know why he wasted the money-the thing is hideous. 

“Every other sentence is ‘oh, I wonder if Sicheng hyung would like this,’ or ‘Sicheng hyung looks the best in red.’” Jungwoo pops open the microwave, grabbing a pair of chopsticks and hopping off the counter. Pats Yukhei’s shoulder with a soft smile. “It’s really cute, but you’re going to have to tone it down if you don’t want the others noticing. Kun hyung is very perceptive.”

Yukhei groans, letting his forehead thud against the counter. Jungwoo slides into the seat across from him, one hand petting Yukhei’s hair. “He’s just really cool! Why does everyone think I have a crush on him?” 

“Because all you ever do is talk about Sicheng hyung,” Jungwoo slurps up another mouthful of noodles. Yukhei makes a face as a bit of broth is flicked at his forehead by the tail end of one of the noodles. “Chenle is getting jealous.”

“No, he isn’t! He’s too busy hanging out with Jisung and Renjun.”

Jungwoo shrugs. “If you say so.”

“I do not have a crush on Sicheng ge,” Yukhei says firmly. Wonders why it tastes a little funny in his mouth. 

“Denial. It’s not just a river in Egypt,” Jungwoo says knowledgeably.

~.~

Going from Hong Kong to Korea is a mess. Yukhei doesn’t know anything beyond ‘annyeong’ and ‘gomapseumnida,’ and almost none of the trainees or instructors speak Cantonese. His English is passable, and he picks up a few phrases messing around with Mark, but almost every sentence is being fed to Yukhei via earbud that translates every other word incorrectly.

Renjun, Chenle, and Kun all do their best to help out, but it's Sicheng that ends up drawing Yukhei out of his shell. 

It’s no secret that everyone in NCT has a soft spot for Sicheng, and Yukhei is no exception. He’s got a naturally calm demeanor and an approachable face. When Yukhei stumbled through his Mandarin introduction-it’s only slightly better than his English-he’d clapped enthusiastically and bought him Dim Sum as a welcome. His Korean is still shaky as well, though a far cry better than Yukhei’s, and while his grasp of Mandarin is leagues ahead of him, his pronunciation is terrible.

Just. The worst.

It’s really not his fault. Yukhei is a little familiar with the Wenzhou dialect, and it’s almost more confusing than switching from the Cantonese dialect to Mandarin. The China line members, sometimes with the addition of Ten, try and make out his phone calls sometimes for fun, but the only words Yukhei can somewhat distinguish are hello and goodbye. 

Ahem. Anyways.

Sicheng seems to take a liking to Yukhei and makes it his mission to be his personal liaison to trainee life in a different country. They have a mutual dislike of their Korean class and a biweekly hang out where they go to a Chinese corner shop where the auntie gives them extra chicken and happily chatters away in Mandarin. Chenle tags along when he can, eyes sparkling as he darts in and out of view, pressing his nose against shops and telling Yukhei and Sicheng that _ ‘they have to get that doll, it looks just like Jisungie _’. Yukhei feels like an older brother, making sure the younger is always within eyesight. Sicheng pats his cheek and calls him cute.

Renjun is like the twin Yukhei never had. They share a room as trainees, and most days Yukhei wakes up to find Renjun snoring across the room or up and sluggishly getting ready for the day. They spend Christmas eating pizza and playing hide and go seek, their hiding places getting less and less creative as the day goes on. Yukhei spends a solid five minutes rolling on the floor in laughter when he finds Renjun squatting behind the kitchen counter with a trash can lid on his head. 

While it’s more often him and Chenle teaming up against the older ones, Renjun also makes a point to include Yukhei and, by extension, Sicheng, in their schemes. They usually end with Yukhei and Chenle wearing matching sheepish expressions, Renjun defiantly innocent, and Sicheng playing up the cute factor. Kun sighs and pinches his nose, and Renjun reasons he’s going to grow grey hairs before his next dyeing appointment. 

Promoting with NCT U feels like a dream, and at the same time, a twisted nightmare.

Yukhei has to Speak KoreanTM on live television. Worse, he has to _ rap _ it. 

“Dude, it’s not that bad,” Mark tries to reason, re-tying his shirt sleeve. Yukhei doesn’t understand the point of the strings, but he pities the person who tries to reason with the design team. “I mean, a lot of times there’s awkward pauses, but that’s what editing is for. Anyways, they think that you’re, like, cute, so you won’t have any problems.”

Yukhei appreciates the reassurance and the fact that it was made in English, but he really only understands half of what Mark said.

“I’m, hm, nervous-ing?” Yukhei tries, his Korean coming out unsure.

“Nervous,” Sicheng corrects as he walks over to them, quickly switching into Mandarin. “_ You don’t need to add an ending, the verb just works _.”

Yukhei tries to ignore the fluttering in his chest. “Ah, you mean _ it doesn’t get a modifier _?”

“_ Yeah! You only need to put the verb at the end, and then the honorific, if needed.” _ Sicheng pats his head, looking proud. “ _ You’re learning well. _”

“_ Thanks, Sicheng ge _. I’m nervous,” Yukhei repeats in Korean. Looks up and notices Mark blinking between the two of them in confusion. “Oh, sorry.”

“Nah, bro, you’re fine,” Mark finally says. His eyes are blown wide, like the time Taeyong ge had explained that, yes, you were supposed to peel an onion before you cut it. Not that anyone let Mark near the kitchen in the first place.

“You’re on in 10,” one of the directors calls.

“Alright, let’s go, everyone,” Taeyong claps his hands, startling Jungwoo next to him. Jaehyun rubs Jungwoo’s back reassuringly, and Yukhei sends him a discrete thumbs up. 

They take their places on the stage, Dongyoung squatting down next to Yukhei and giving him an encouraging smile. 

_ Jiayou _, Sicheng mouths from the other end of the stage, and Yukhei grins. 

("You get me, right?" Yukhei asks in the dead of night when most of the day is spent doing charades and unable to communicate with anyone, the earpiece next to useless.

"Yeah," Sicheng replies, tugging Yukhei into his side. "I get you.") 

~.~

As fellow foreign swaggers, Yuta and Ten have the dubious honor of suffering through Korean class with the rest of the China line. Mark and Johnny, having lived in Korea for years on top of actually being Korean, have a class of their own in which conspicuous amounts of English are interwoven. 

“I don’t understand this,” Chenle groans, head resting on his open workbook. 

Renjun pats his head sympathetically, scribbling answers absentmindedly in his own workbook, five levels above Yukhei’s meager level one. Kun is almost their teacher at this point, having gone through the whole series of workbooks, and is more invested in pointing out several grammatical mistakes to Ten than rereading an old Korean text he’d been assigned. 

Yuta leans over to Yukhei and Sicheng conspiratorially. “I bet Kun hyung is trying to take teacher hyung’s job.”

Sicheng hums, immune to Yuta’s antics after sharing a dorm with him and Taeil for so many years. Yukhei, however, is somewhat taken aback. “He wants to be a teacher?”

“What? No, I was just joking,” Yuta blinks. “I mean, how do I say-” He starts to mutter to himself in Japanese. 

Yukhei is lost. “Joking? What does-” he turns to Sicheng. “_ What does _ ‘joking’ _ mean _?”

“_ It’s, like, messing around _ ,” Sicheng searches for the right word. His face suddenly lights up. “ _ Ah! Joking. It means joking. _”

“_ Ohhh _ ,” Yukhei beams. “ _ That makes sense. I was so confused. I thought Kun hyung wanted to quit. I was sad. _”

Sicheng laughs, fondly tugging on his ear. Yukhei feels it turn red. “_ He just got to debut, why would he leave already? _”

There’s suddenly a shadow looming above them. Sicheng and Yukhei both look up. “Are you guys talking about me?” Kun asks suspiciously, eyeing Yuta’s dazed expression and Sicheng’s innocent demeanor.

“What? Of course not,” Yukhei smiles brightly, sending Kun finger hearts. Kun sighs, glancing down at Yukhei’s workbook. 

“You’ve still got three more pages. Sicheng, your book isn’t even open,” Kun says, exasperated. 

Sicheng cups his face cutely, “I was helping out Xuxi.”

Yukhei feels a slight jolt at the nickname, the pronunciation not quite the same but still similar to his native tongue. Ten is wiggling his eyebrows in the background, and Yukhei sticks his tongue out at him, face red. Yuta leans across the table to coo at Sicheng, and Chenle and Renjun sneak not-so-discreetly out the side door, hats tugged low over their faces like that will make them blend in better. Yangyang, Dejun, and Guanheng stay seated in the corner, being the good new trainees they are. Yukhei has no doubt that will quickly change. 

“You are all a pain,” Kun announces. “I don’t envy Taeyong hyung at all.”

“Why are you calling him hyung when your hair is already grey?” Yangyang quips, then runs after Renjun and Chenle with a shriek as Kun chucks his book at him.

~.~

“No, you put the emphasis on the _ dee _ , not the _ thorn _,” Ten explains to Yukhei. Yukhei groans, stretching his legs out on the floor, Ten doing his best to take up the whole couch.

“Why is Thai so hard?” Yukhei lets his head flop back on the couch cushion. He's tempted to play the drama he'd made Ten pause to give him an impromptu Thai lesson, but Yukhei's stronger than that. Or, at least, that's what his horoscope tells him every morning. Renjun tells him it's a capitalist scheme, but Jungwoo tells him that Sicheng sometimes spends the mornings between rehearsals reading horoscopes, so Yukhei's more or less sold.

Ten laughs, fiddling with a piece of Yukhei’s hair. “It’s no harder than Mandarin. And there’s some grammar rules similar to English. Isn’t your mom Thai?”

“Yeah, but she mostly only speaks Cantonese. I only know the basics.”

“Then remind me why you’re trying to learn _ now,_ in the middle of our comeback?” Ten tugs at the edge of the blanket, crossing his ankles over the armrest. His anklet jingles merrily.

There’s a clanging in the kitchen Yukhei knows is Kun cooking, and small exclamations of excitement and distress that indicate Dejun and Guanheng have teamed up to steal ingredients. Again. Yukhei doesn’t know why he ever thought they would be calm when the rest of them are so chaotic. 

“Well, there’s the Thailand, uh, _ showcase _? Stage,” Yukhei amends in English, counting on his fingers. “And then there’s that fan meet, not to mention the V lives. And I want to impress my mom. She’s been homesick lately.”

“Ah,” Ten hums. “Well, you know I don’t have much to do unless they decide to make another U comeback, but I’m not even in Boss. Me and Kun are getting lonely, and Yangyang is getting antsy. You can practice with me at any time.”

“Ah, I’m sure they’ll come up with something soon,” Yukhei bites his lip. “They have to put you in a permanent group. You are such a good, uh, dance?” He adds on in English.

“Dancer,” Ten corrects. “You were close. It’s ‘dancer’ in Korean. Your English is better than Sichengie’s.”

Guanheng pops over the back of the couch, chin resting on the backrest. Ten pats his fluffy hair. “Kun ge made chicken. Dejun and I stole some of the strawberries, so you should come eat the rest before Jungwoo hyung and Taeil hyung come.”

Yukhei shrugs, going over to his shared room and poking his head in. “_ Food is ready _.”

Sicheng groans, his head popping out from under Jungwoo’s covers. He puffs a piece of blond hair out of his eyes. “_ I’m too tired. Eat without me _.”

Jeno, who had somehow made his way into their dorm (Yukhei thinks he misses Jaemin, who’s busy filming), looks between them with an unimpressed look on his face. “Korean please.”

“Ah, Jeno, man,” Yukhei says in English, just to ruffle his feathers. Jeno grumbles, pulling Yukhei’s sheets tighter around his body. “Sorry, sorry. Dinner is done!”

Jeno, being the growing teenager he is, shoots to his feet. “Why didn’t you say so? Yangyang is going to take _ all _ the rice again.”

Yukhei has to drag Sicheng out to the dining table, and they all coo at his bedhead. Yukhei feels like a herd of butterflies (a flock? Yukhei has no idea what that would be called) have taken up residence in his stomach when Sicheng all but falls asleep on his shoulder, making cute snuffling noises every time he shuffles into a more comfortable position. Kun and Dejun end up double teaming him and making some comment about ramen hair that has Yangyang choking on his rice and cursing in German. 

Yukhei is intrigued.

~.~

“I am not teaching you German,” Yangyang says flatly. 

Yukhei feels a trail of sweat trickle down the back of his neck, only partially due to the summer heat. His puppy dog eyes, his greatest weapon, were easily ignored. And this is a set back. But Yukhei is never one to give up easily. 

“Why not?” Yukhei persists, following Yangyang to the convenience store, tugging at his cap. For once, they actually have an excuse for the hat and sunglasses, the sun beating down on their backs. “I’m a fast learner, and you’ll get to practice!”

“Geh weg,” Yangyang groans, pushing at Yukhei’s shoulder half heartedly. “You’re already learning Korean, Thai with Ten ge, English, and Mandarin. I am not teaching you German on top of that.”

“I’ll teach you some Cantonese,” Yukhei offers. Yangyang looks up sharply, a glint in his eyes. Knowing he has the advantage, Yukhei quickly presses on. “I bet it’s irritating not knowing what Dejun and Guanheng are saying. It’s really not as hard as you think.”

Yangyang hums, tapping his finger on his lips. “Buy me a Melona and you’ve got yourself a deal.”

Yukhei does a victory dance, then drags Yangyang to the store. “Hurry up! There’s no time to waste.”

Hours later, Yukhei already regrets his abrupt decision. “How do nouns have genders? _ Why _ do nouns have genders? How do you remember what’s what? Why is a backpack masculine? Why is a girl _ neuter _?”

Yangyang shrugs, feet kicking in the air as he loads another youtube video from a series he’d apparently used when he lived in Düsseldorf. “You just gotta memorize them. There’s not really any way to remember them otherwise. The nice thing is that plurals are always ‘die’, so there’s that at least.”

Yukhei groans facedown on the mattress. “How about we just work on your Cantonese and come back to this later?”

“Sweet!” Yangyang scrambles to sit up, pushing the laptop away. “Let’s do it.”

Yukhei has a suspicion that Yangyang started him on the most difficult thing first so they’d get to this faster, but Yukhei is totally a sucker for the younger’s excitement. “Well, first things first. Cantonese has, like, _ way _ more tones than Mandarin. Grammar is basically the same, just tends to use more traditional characters-”

Dejun comes into their room about 2am. He eyes Yukhei and Yangyang’s dark eye circles and frowns. “Are you guys ok?”

“Yeah-” Yukhei starts. 

“We’re just sleeping-” Yangyang says at the same time. They pause and look at each other in confusion.

Dejun looks between them curiously. “Right. Well, you should go to bed soon. It’s late, and you have promotions tomorrow, Xuxi ge. And they’re announcing us as SM Rookies tomorrow, Yangyang. Makeup noona won’t be very happy if you come in looking like a zombie.”

“Thanks,” Yangyang yawns, snuggling further into Yukhei’s blanket. Jungwoo is passed out in his own bed, earplugs and an eye mask in place and covers up to his chin. Yukhei had worried that they would be keeping him up, but Jungwoo had assured them he was a heavy sleeper. Kun is off who knows where doing who knows what. Possibly on a secret rendezvous with his secret boyfriend he denies having. Yukhei is a skeptic. “I’ll head back in a minute.”

Dejun grins, ruffling the younger’s hair. “Alright. Night, then.”

“Night night,” Yukhei calls in Cantonese, smiling as Dejun responds in kind. 

Still smiling, Yukhei nearly shrieks as he turns back around to find Yangyang staring wide-eyed at him. 

“Yukhei ge,” Yangyang says slowly. “I think I just understood you.”

~.~

So, it’s not intentional that Yukhei and Yangyang keep mum about his Cantonese. It’s more that being introduced to SM Rookies gives Dejun, Guanheng, and Yangyang more responsibilities, and then they all get really busy preparing for the Chinese sub unit they’re told is actually happening. Yukhei and Yangyang still meet several times a week, on top of Yukhei’s weekly English sessions with Mark, Thai with Ten, and general Korean lessons. The Empathy promotions have tapered out for the most part and Jungwoo is more often than not gone doing 127 schedules since they plan to introduce him to the group. Yukhei and Sicheng still manage to make time to hang out once every few days, and it’s a relief to speak Mandarin when he’s struggling with Korean every other hour of the day. He’s even picked up a little Wenzhou, though Yukhei has no idea when.

There’s a collective panic when they realize that SM Town 2018 is going to be in Osaka. They all know some basic Japanese, but not to the point that they can hold a concert in it. In between Black on Black rehearsals and practices with their respective sub groups, they frantically write down phrases, going to Yuta and Teacher to check them. The members start bribing Yuta with bubble tea and other goodies to try and get him to check their work first so they can memorize the phrases. Ten, being the language master he is, declares that he’s going to figure it out himself, like it’s a matter of pride. 

Yukhei has no such reservations.

Yuta hums, sipping on the $10 boba tea Yukhei had splurged on for him, ignoring the way his empty wallet cries at him. “Look, right here, you don’t have to use ‘だ’.”

Yuta circles one of Yukhei’s sentences, pointing out the ending. Yukhei squints at it. “Why not? I’m not just going to say ‘well,’ right? Don’t you need the ‘だ’ at the end to ask ‘are you well?’”

“Yeah, but adding ‘だ’ just makes your sentence sound, uh, forceful. Declarative,” Yuta clarifies. “The sentence makes sense without it, unless you’re going for a more emphatic style.”

“Huh.”

Chenle impatiently taps Yukhei’s shoulders. “Are you done? I need Yuta hyung to check my work, too.”

“Me, too!” Sicheng calls from his bed across the room, kicking his feet in the air. It’s way too cute for someone older than Yukhei. His heart flutters strangely. “_ Yukhei, stop worrying so much, you’re fine _.”

“_ I’ve only got a few more sentences _,” Yukhei reassures him. 

Jaehyun eyes them blearily from the corner, a notebook held loosely in one hand. His hoodie is pulled over his head, the stings tied shut in a bow. Yukhei thinks those are Taeyong’s pajama pants, given how short they are on the elder. “I can’t tell if that was Mandarin or Japanese. My brain hurts.”

Yuta eyes him with concern. “Maybe you should get some sleep.”

“When’s the last time you slept?” Chenle asks worriedly, poking his eye bags. Jaehyun leans backwards, trying to focus on Chenle’s fingers. Sicheng picks up a blanket and makes his way over to wrap it around his shoulders. 

Jaehyun blinks, fingers clutching the soft fabric. “I dunno. I’m gonna go to bed now.”

He closes his eyes and slumps in the beanbag, going still. Chenle looks at Yukhei. “Is this what happens when you become an adult?”

Osaka is much bigger than Yukhei expects. The vans drop them in front of a hotel where all of NCT 2018 converge to pick rooms. Yukhei ends up rooming with Renjun, exchanging high fives with the younger. Chenle and Sicheng end up together and do a little victory dance. 

_ China line _, Chenle mouths at Yukhei. 

_ Better room _, Renjun mouths back, gesturing to himself and Yukhei. Chenle lets out a shriek and chases after Renjun, who hides behind Yukhei. Yukhei regretfully stops Chenle from extracting his revenge given that he owes loyalty to his new roommate. 

When they make it up to the room, Yukhei and Renjun end up messing around for a bit before making a quick video. It’s reminiscent of when they shared a room during their trainee days, and they have fun shrieking and jumping on the beds. Donghyuck texts Renjun to shut up while Ten shouts it in Thai through the thin walls. Yukhei is so ecstatic he understands he doesn’t even protest it. 

When he runs into Kun later that night, the elder laments how Johnny’s Mandarin is possibly the best of all the foreign members and there aren’t any plans to include him in the WayV lineup. Personally, Yukhei thinks Ten’s Mandarin is right up there at the top, impressive for only a year of studying, but seeing as his own Mandarin is a work in progress, he’s in no place to judge. He does, however, start planning subtle ways to get the producers to think about adding Johnny to the lineup. It would be nice not to be the tallest one all of the time, and Johnny is hilarious. Yukhei also thinks Ten would appreciate having another foreign friend. 

(Between dress rehearsals, Chenle comes bursting into the dressing room, eyes wide like he's seen a ghost. When they try to ask what's wrong, Chenle just shakes his head rapidly, saying something about "Kun ge's secret boyfriend" before Kun comes bursting in after him and Chenle shrieks, darting between the make up crew and disappearing down one of the long hallways, Kun hollering after him to stop. Yukhei and Taeyong very carefully go back to looking at their phones, resolutely ignoring Donghyuck's cackling.)

The actual concert is awesome. Black on Black is Yukhei’s personal favorite, getting to perform with all of NCT at once. He feels a twinge of sadness that Dejun, Guanheng, and Yangyang aren’t there to experience it with them, but he knows they’ll be there next year. Or, at least, he hopes. He tries not to think about it. When the microphone is passed to him, he shouts out his Japanese phrases confidently, beaming at the excited shrieks he gets in response. Yuta pats him on the back with a smile when he passes him, and Sicheng jumps on his back. Yukhei and Renjun mess around, and he high fives Mark when he successfully makes it to the stage from the motorized thing they transported him over on. 

It’s a slightly bittersweet feeling heading back to Korea, but Guanheng calls to tell him that they’ve finally begun planning for the WayV debut and suddenly he can’t get there soon enough. 

And then there’s H&Y filming. It’s pretty fun, going around with several of the other foreign members and exploring Seoul. Despite living there for several years, Yukhei has been too busy to really get to know the city, more familiar with the practice rooms and dorm halls than the streets and buildings. 

Johnny is hilarious. He and Mark make a power duo, English and Korean flowing effortlessly between them. But he also gently corrects Yukhei when he says something wrong, and makes him feel more comfortable than he’s been in a while. Yukhei feels regret at not getting to know him better sooner. 

But it’s even better finally hanging out with Sicheng again.

“Mogwa cha?” Yukhei asks Sicheng, eyes filled with mirth.

“_ Mogwa cha _,” Sicheng emphasizes, and they burst into laughter, unable to keep a straight face. Kun rolls his eyes at their antics, but seems to take some amusement out of the conversation. 

The items on the menu are written in Korean and Yukhei and Sicheng take turns translating them to each other. They giggle behind their hands, trying not to interrupt Mark’s spiel in English next to them, and Johnny raises an eyebrow at them. 

“I need a Japanese buddy,” Yuta bemoans when the cameras are briefly turned off. “When I’m confused, no one can translate for me.”

“Ah, I’m sure they’ll get someone soon,” Kun says sympathetically. 

“Yeah!” Mark chimes in, “and Donghyuck-ah has been practicing a lot, so maybe he’ll be able to, like, help you out. But, like, you’re already good at Korean.”

“It’s the principle of things,” Yuta insists staunchly, gesturing to Yukhei and Sicheng giggling. “Do you know how many good jokes I’ve missed out on telling because I didn’t have anyone to share it with? And they wouldn’t make sense in Korean.”

“I feels,” Johnny says in English, nodding seriously. 

Mark looks offended. “Hey! What about me?”

“Oh, yeah,” Johnny muses, laughing as Mark pouts. “I’m kidding, of course I have you, Mark-ah.”

The rest of filming goes by faster than Yukhei expects, even though it was only scheduled to last two days. Still, he finds himself a little bored since they have a third day off, just in case there were filming complications. He stares at the ceiling. 

“_ Sicheng ge _?” He calls down the hallway.

“_ Yeah _?” Sicheng’s voice echoes back.

“_ Wanna go to the dream dorm _?”

Sicheng pokes his head into Yukhei’s room. “_ Right now _?”

“_ Why not? I bet they’re having more fun than us _,” Yukhei gestures between the pair of them.

Sicheng eyes the ceiling fan slowly rotating, and then his pajamas. He shrugs. “_ Sure _.” 

The dream dorm is a floor below them, so they take the stairs, skipping down them two at a time. The door is open by the time they get down there, muffled shrieks echoing into the hallway. Yukhei and Sicheng exchange glances. 

“_ You wanna go first _?”

“_ Nope _.”

Yukhei sighs and carefully pushes open the door. 

As expected, it’s chaos. Yukhei doesn’t know what happened between the end of filming and coming back to the dorms, but Mark and Chenle are hiding under the kitchen table while Donghyuck and Renjun throw couch pillows at each other. Ten is sitting cross legged on the counter, while Jaemin is doing his best to mitigate the damage. Yukhei thinks he sees Jeno’s head pop up from behind the tv before it disappears again. 

While Yukhei and Sicheng stay frozen in the doorway, Chenle sneaks his way over, popping up in front of them with a smile. “Hi, Yukhei ge. Hi, Sicheng ge. We’re having a pillow fight.”

Donghyuck launches his pillow with impressive force and accuracy, forcing Renjun to duck into the pantry. 

Sicheng looks skeptical. “Are you sure? They look a little-”

“Take this,” Jisung shrieks, flying out of nowhere with a foam noodle. Yukhei doesn’t want to know where he found it. 

“-angry,” Sicheng finishes. 

Chenle waves his hand dismissively. “It’s our annual pillow fight! Mark hyung and I didn’t want to participate, so we’re hiding, but Ten hyung and Jaemin hyung agreed to referee.”

Jaemin chooses that moment to bring a whistle to his lips, releasing an obnoxiously shrill sound. “Foul!”

Jisung freezes, looking put out. “What? How is that a foul, there’s no _ rules _.”

“Except to be safe, legal, ethical, and moral,” Ten recites, digging into his chip bag and bringing a handful of them up to his mouth. “Safety first. We don’t want anyone getting injured before your next comeback.”

“That noodle could cause some serious injuries,” Jaemin nods, like he’s agreeing with himself. 

“It’s _ foam _.”

Jaemin coos, squishing Jisung’s cheeks. “I’m sure it is, cutie. I’m still going to have to confiscate it.”

“Well, have fun watching,” Chenle tells Sicheng and Yukhei, beaming. Yukhei has a sudden urge to wrap him in several blankets and cuddle him. He wonders if this is what being an older brother feels like. 

Sicheng pulls him over to the counter while Chenle scurries back under the table, exchanging fist bumps with Mark. Ten scoots to the side, making room for them on the counter. 

“Honestly, Taeyong paid me to keep an eye on them,” Ten confides, offering them the chip bag. Sicheng shakes his head, but Yukhei notices the Thai writing and dares to try one. It’s honey, and sweet. He has to stop himself from taking the bag from Ten entirely. “After last time, no one else wanted to babysit, so I’m making $10 an hour. Better than minimum wage.”

“These are good,” Yukhei tells Ten in Thai. Ten grins, handing him the bag as a reward. 

“What did you say?” Sicheng asks curiously. 

Yukhei clutches the bag to his chest, slowly savoring the taste. “_ These chips are good. I think we tried them when we went to Thailand. _”

Sicheng snaps his fingers. “_ Ah! During Empathy. I remember that. Where do you think we can buy _-”

Jeno comes skidding across the tile in front of them, breathlessly handing Ten a swatch of red fabric that looks to be the torn remains of Donghyuck’s sweatband. Ten clicks his tongue, stuffing it into a bag behind him filled with an assortment of other items. Yukhei thinks he sees Renjun’s sock and the shoe horn Mark has been carrying around for some reason. “You still have to get either Chenle or the hidden item.”

“Yeah,” Jeno heaves in a breath, then dives back into the fray.

Yukhei stares. “What kind of pillow fight is this?”

“It’s a joint creation,” Ten says. “I think it came out of a combination of sleep deprivation and those candies Chenle sneaks in from his parents. The rules are a little ambiguous.”

By the time Jaemin emerges from the fray, victorious despite being the referee (Yukhei really doesn’t understand these rules), Sicheng, Ten, and Yukhei have ordered take out and are eating it carefully, shielding their food with their arms. 

“Can I have some?” Donghyuck asks, fluttering his eyelashes at Ten. 

Ten curls his lips, but hands over a container of beef that no one but Donghyuck has a taste for, letting Donghyuck perch on the counter beside him. Ten’s not fooling anyone. 

Mark sits on the floor with Jisung and Jaemin, and Renjun and Jeno squeeze their way onto the counter despite there being a perfectly good table ten feet away from them. Yukhei doesn’t fault them for it, having done the same many times before. There’s something thrilling about eating in the kitchen, as strange as it sounds. 

“_ You think we should head back soon? _” Sicheng asks Yukhei. 

Yukhei passes Mark another pair of chopsticks, his having been ‘liberated’ from him by Jisung and Donghyuck. He carefully avoids Sicheng’s eyes which have, for some reason, started making him lose his thoughts mid sentence if he looks into them. “_ Probably. I bet Jungwoo ge is back by now, and I bet Yuta ge is getting bored without you and Taeil ge to entertain him _.”

Sicheng laughs, pinching Yukhei’s arm. The smile on his face is infectious. “_ Hey! You were the one who wanted to come here in the first place. _”

“_ With dubious results, _” Yukhei says, eyeing the feathers still falling from the ceiling fan. 

Jeno watches them suspiciously. “I think they’re laughing at us.”

“No?” Sicheng says, tilting his head. “Yukhei just thinks you guys are funny.”

Donghyuck aggressively points a finger at them. “Don’t lie! You guys are making fun of us.”

Yukhei blinks, looking at Sicheng. The elder shrugs, mouth twisted in confusion.

“I think what he means is that you guys always speak in Mandarin to each other and none of us can understand,” Mark tries to placate. 

“I can understand,” Chenle points out.

“Nobody likes a show off,” Jaemin huffs. 

Renjun rolls his eyes. “You all are a bunch of wusses.”

Before chaos can reign down again, Yukhei jumps to his feet, patting Chenle’s head affectionately. “We have to go back to the dorm. See you guys later! _ Go to sleep earlier, Renjun, or I’ll tell Kun hyung it was you who broke his sautépan _.”

Chenle bursts out in laughter at Renjun’s offended expression, leaning over to fill Jisung in at his raised eyebrow. 

“Bye, Ten hyung,” Yukhei calls in Thai. “Sleep well!”

Ten’s laughter rings as Yukhei drags Sicheng out of the dorm. “See you later. Your Thai is getting better!”

~.~

As great as phone calls with his family are, their voices crackle over the long-distance connection, sometimes cutting out. That aside, Yukhei barely has time to sleep and keep up with his schedules, especially with the upcoming WayV debut. 

In that sense, Dejun and Guanheng are a blessing. Cantonese flows easily between them, random English words sometimes popping up just to spice it up since they’re all fairly well versed in the language. There’s something distinctly satisfying about the language, the dips and raises in tone comforting in their familiarity. 

Yangyang only really speaks Cantonese with Yukhei, still too shy to speak it in front of other native speakers, although it’s certainly coming along better than Yukhei’s German. The grammar rules aren’t that bad (“Subject, verb, then time/manner/place, then ending verb,” Yangyang sums up), but the different verb endings and many tenses still get mixed up in his brain. His Thai is fractionally better, given that Ten makes it a point to speak basic phrases to Yukhei daily, but for the most part Korean, English, and Mandarin remain his top priorities. 

That is, when he isn’t busy making sure the rest of the members make it though comeback season.

“I’m tired,” Sicheng bemoans, staring at his melting ice cream with the sort of defeat Yukhei usually feels after trying to open a Gatorade bottle for twenty straight minutes. 

Jaehyun groans in agreement, pressing his ice pop to his forehead. “I mean, promotions are great and all, but this is the first time I’ve had free time in weeks.”

Yukhei hums sympathetically, rubbing Jungwoo’s back systematically where he’s collapsed on the sofa next to Yukhei. Jungwoo shoots Yukhei a knowing look when he stares at Sicheng just a little too long, and Yukhei pinches his ear warningly. Jungwoo rolls his eyes, but flops back down onto the pillows so Yukhei can continue his ministrations. Mark is passed out next to him, head lolling against the back of the couch. Yukhei loves Regular with all his heart, but it’s been the craziest comeback yet. 

“What is sleep? I don’t know her,” Johnny mutters, splayed out on the carpet like a starfish. 

“Stop being a meme,” Yangyang tells him, handing him a cold water bottle despite it. Johnny cuddles the bottle to his chest, murmuring a quiet thank you. 

Dongyoung is closing his eyes in Jeno’s lap, the younger petting his hair quietly. Dejun is sitting with Taeil at the kitchen table, watching him carefully sip at his honey tea. Yukhei wonder if he can beg Dejun into making him a cup (it smells like home). 

“Just think, three months until WayV promotions,” Guanheng mutters to Yukhei in Cantonese, mindful of the exhausted expressions of the other members. “I don’t know how they do it.”

Yukhei agrees. 

The ‘U’ dorm is uncommonly popular, somehow becoming the unofficial meeting point for the day. Renjun had texted him earlier that he, Chenle, Jisung, and Jaemin were going with manager hyung to pick up dinner before coming over. Yukhei has no idea how they plan on paying for such a large meal. The two most obvious options are manager hyung or Kun. 

“You can lay down in my room if you’re feeling lightheaded,” Kun tells Yuta, gently guiding him down the hallway. 

Yuta hums, eyes closed. “I’m just tired. M’fine.”

Ok, so not Kun. Rip manager hyung’s wallet. Of course, there's also the possibility that Kun's secret boyfriend is paying for the lot, but the guy is as elusive as a cryptid (Renjun's words, not his) so Yukhei can't say anything for sure.

Ten hands Yukhei another note card from his spot on the floor, rubbing Johnny’s back. “How would you say this?”

Yukhei glances at the phrase. “Huh. Um, kun ma-jaàk, er, pra-teâd arai.”

“And informally?” Ten asks. 

“Take out the kun,” Yukhei says with a nod. 

“Take out the kun? Ha, take out the Kun,” Taeyong suddenly giggles, Donghyuck curled into his side. The younger lets out a small noise, adjusting slightly before falling back asleep.

Sicheng looks seconds away from face planting in his ice cream so Yukhei slides it out of range, gently prying the spoon from his hand. He discards the Thai flashcard onto the pile of many others he and Ten have created over the course of several months. Sicheng glances at him blearily. 

“_ Maybe you should take a nap _ ,” Yukhei suggests. “ _ The food won’t be here for a while. _”

“Food,” Jungwoo slurs, digging his face into Yukhei’s shoulder. “Frogs. Flowers.”

“_ Right, you both _-sorry, you both need a nap,” Yukhei switches back to Korean. With a bit of teamwork, Yukhei and Yangyang manage to get Sicheng and Jungwoo into beds. Yukhei lets his eyes linger on Sicheng briefly, clutching Yukhei’s pillow as he falls asleep. The door closes with a quiet click. 

“We need a secret handshake,” Yangyang says suddenly, turning from the door to face Yukhei. “Donghyuck hyung and Mark hyung have one. We should have one. Language learning buddies have to stick together.”

Yukhei’s eyes widen. “That sounds cool. Let’s do that.”

When the rest of Dream arrives later with a truck load of food, they’ve created the basis, a complicated bumping of elbows and hands that is more interpretive than solid, but fun nonetheless. He’s sure they’ll debut it at some point. Yukhei has to haul Sicheng, literally, out of bed and to the table, but it’s more amusing than annoying since the elder’s Mandarin is slurred and peppered with Wenzhuo slang and English and Korean phrases. 

“He’s broken,” Renjun declares, setting a plate in front of Yukhei. 

“Hey,” Sicheng mumbles. “_ Am not. _”

Renjun shoots him an unimpressed look. “Seeing as no one here had any idea of what you just said, all signs point to yes.”

Sicheng grumbles, letting his head rest on Yukhei’s shoulders. Yukhei does his best to will down the heat in his cheeks. 

Jisung, fresh from his Dancing High recording, plops in the chair next to Yukhei, looking dead to the world. “Now I understand why Jaemin hyung drinks so much coffee.”

“And I even cut back on it,” Jaemin points out. Jeno slings an arm over his shoulder. “I’m down to 2 cups now. Even I don’t know how I make it through the day.”

Jeno rolls his eyes. “You’re being dramatic. Most of us don’t drink coffee and do just fine.”

“You fell asleep during vocal rehearsal this morning,” Jeamin says, unimpressed. “It might be time you considered caffeine.”

“I’m going back to bed,” Yuta mumbles, his Japanese tinged with sleep. Donghyuck nods his head sympathetically, having just woken up from his own nap, and can’t seem to stop nodding. Yuta gently stops his head and Donghyuck blinks at him slowly before abruptly falling asleep on the spot. 

"Hey Donghyuck, wanna see our secret handshake?" Yangyang asks Donghyuck. He snores in response. Yangyang shrugs at Yukhei and they quickly go though the entire thing, only messing up once. Taeil claps politely, startling Donghyuck awake. 

“English time,” Johnny says cheerfully, plopping down next to Taeyong. Mark is still asleep on the couch, but at Johnny’s tone slowly squints his eyes open.

“I can speak English,” Mark mutters in Korean. 

“That’s good to know,” Guanheng tells him. “I was worried.”

“_ We joined a group of idiots _,” Yukhei says to Sicheng.

Sicheng smiles. “_ Isn’t it great? _”

~.~

Sometimes, in the middle of a conversation, Yukhei will just stop and stare at the sun because it reminds him of Sicheng’s grin. And then screech as it burns his eyes because you’re not supposed to stare directly into the sun. (Duh. Yukhei feels like this is some sort of deep symbolism that Jungwoo would appreciate but is lost on him.) Or go to pet a dog and think, wow, I remember when Sicheng and I pet a one dog. Even, like, eating Dim Sum makes him nostalgic, remembering how they once snuck out as trainees to diet wreck because they hadn’t had cheap, fast food in months. Yukhei can’t even put on his favorite hoodie without Sicheng’s scent wafting up since he stole it the previous night just to be cheeky. 

Sometimes everything feels very one sided. The smile Yukhei saves for Sicheng is returned with the grins Yukhei sees everyday, aimed at the other members and even the camera. When Yukhei zones out, staring at Sicheng and daydreaming, he’s broken out of it by Chenle poking his side, Sicheng’s attention pointed elsewhere when it appears Yukhei’s left the conversation. Texts are sometimes left on read for days on end before Sicheng remembers to respond, but Yukhei can put it down to how bad of a texter the elder is. Kun often complains that Sicheng never answers him when he asks if he needs anything when he’s out shopping (possibly with his secret boyfriend), so Yukhei tries not to take it too hard. When Yukhei waits for Sicheng to make it back to the dorm after rehearsal, the elder gives him a look of surprise that makes Yukhei feel foolish.

But then Sicheng runs to the convenience store at 4am to grab Yukhei soup and tea when he catches a cold but can’t afford to skip rehearsal. When Yukhei forgets his rehearsal clothes, again, Sicheng tosses him the extra kit he carries around for the exact purpose. At 6am, he’s dutifully pulling Yukhei out of bed and dragging him to the bathroom, turning on the shower and handing Yukhei a toothbrush with toothpaste already spread across the bristles. The rare trip home is marked with Sicheng bringing back home cooked goods and a bag of Yukhei’s favorite candy not sold in Korea. 

It’s things like this that have his head turning, his heart thudding. Is left right or up down? He’s lost, confused, his chain being yanked back and forth. It’s like being on a never ending rollercoaster. 

Renjun snorts and calls him stupid when Yukhei bemoans this during their weekly sleepover, but the next day Yukhei finds a book in Chinese slipped into his bag titled _ What To Do When Your Crush Crushes You: A Comprehensive Guide _. While Yukhei appreciates the sentiment, he wishes it wasn’t quite so blunt. It doesn’t stop him from shiftily reading it under the covers in the dead of night, but no one but Yukhei knows why his eye bags are so intense the next day. (Except for Renjun, who takes one look at him and starts laughing his head off). 

~.~

“_ I haven’t seen you here in awhile, dear _,” the Chinese corner store auntie says cheerfully, sliding a plate of food in front of Yukhei before he can order. He's been here way too often, but it's hard to care when this is one of his few comforts in Korea.

Yukhei says a quick thank you, handing her the correct amount of money before taking a bite of food. It tastes a bit too much like home and his eyes sting briefly. 

Sicheng is off in America with the rest of 127 and Chenle and Renjun are busy preparing for the last Dream promotion before Mark graduates, so Yukhei is by himself. It’s his mom’s birthday tomorrow and there’s no way he’s going to make it to Hong Kong to celebrate it with her. It’s not the first birthday he’s missed, but it suddenly hits him how much he’s sacrificing for this dream. 

“_ Been a rough week _?” the auntie asks sympathetically. The rest of the shop is empty so she’s quietly wiping down tables. 

Yukhei hums, blinking his eyes a few times. “_ Uh, yes. It’s my mom’s birthday tomorrow and I can’t see her _.”

She pauses, giving him a once over. “_ You can still call her, can’t you? _”

Yukhei nods. 

“_ Then try not to worry, _ ” she says. “ _ Matters of the heart can’t be put out by distance. It will be enough for her to know you’re thinking of her. _”

Blinking a few more times, Yukhei gives her a small bow from his seat. “_ Thank you. I’ll try to remember that. _”

The auntie hums, giving him a gentle smile. “_ You’re a good son. I would be happy if my children thought of me as much as you think of your family. _”

Leaving the shop feels like entering a different world. The warm, red colors of the shop, the familiar scent, are washed away by grey buildings and smog. Yukhei pulls his jacket tighter around his shoulders, feeling more out of place than usual. 

The dorm is only a few blocks from the shop, so he walks back, the streets mostly empty at this time of night. Flickering signs advertise everything from hip clothing stores to foreign cuisine. As he’s waiting at the crosswalk, he notices a small Pad Thai shop across the street. And a thought pops into his head. 

“Xuxi? Is that you?” His dad’s voice crackles over the phone. Yukhei had the whole night to sleep on it, but he’s still nervous. 

He clears his throat. “Yeah. Is mom there?” 

His dad voices an agreement before handing the phone over to his wife. 

“Xuxi! How are you?” His mom asks, cheerful despite the fact that Yukhei is hundreds of miles away. 

Here it goes. “**_ Hi, mom. Happy birthday! I’m sorry I couldn’t be there for it. _**”

Yukhei hears his mom gasp before the line goes quiet for a minute. “Xuxi? You learned Thai?”

Yukhei chokes at the way her voice goes quiet in a way that Yukhei knows she’s close to tears. “Uh, yeah. _**I’m sorry it took me so long.**_”

“It’s ok, Noo,” she says quietly, sounding touched. “**_That you even managed to make time for this_**-I’m so thankful for you.”

Yukhei stays on the phone for another hour. At some point Ten slips in as Yukhei struggles to talk about his day in Thai, gently prompting him and sitting next to Yukhei for the rest of the hour despite not understanding a word of Cantonese. When Yukhei ends the call, Ten gives him a proud hug. 

“You’ve improved so much! Either you’re super smart, or I’m a fantastic teacher.”

Yukhei shoves Ten lightly, laughing when the elder pouts at him. Dejun pokes his head in minutes later, a tired Yangyang wrapped around his shoulders. “Kun ge is cooking again!”

Yukhei cheers and drags Ten out with him, nearly stumbling over Guanheng who, for some reason or another, is lying in the middle of the hallway rolled up in a blanket. Ten frees himself from Yukhei’s grasp to flop on top of the younger, who lets out a squeak at the weight. 

“Why are you do heavy?”

“Excuse you, I am _ in shape _. This is pure muscle.”

Dejun steps over them and Yukhei laughs as Yangyang’s dragging feet flop over them, the duo scrambling away with accusations of smelly feet. 

Kun is, indeed, cooking in the kitchen, and hands Yukhei a spatula without looking. “Stir that, I need to chop up a few more ingredients.”

Yukhei obeys, stirring carefully. Dejun somehow manages to drag both himself and Yangyang into the kitchen, the younger’s feet still trailing across the floor behind them. 

“Hey, mince the garlic,” Kun calls to Dejun, whipping past with a cutting board filled with vegetables. 

“I am the master of mincing,” Dejun says in Cantonese, ignoring the way Yangyang’s chin pokes into his shoulder. 

“And I am the master of everything,” Yangyang neatly replies in Cantonese, running away and laughing as Dejun gapes after him. 

Kun pauses, turning to stare at Yukhei in horror. “What have you unleashed on us.”

“Whaaat? Pshh, it wasn’t me,” Yukhei quickly turns back to face the stove, shoulders shaking with laughter. Dejun flicks a piece of onion at Yukhei’s neck, making a face when Yukehi eats it raw. 

There’s a shriek from the living room moments later. Yangyang comes darting through the kitchen, cackling as Guanheng stumbles after him, Ten pulling him back by the edge of the blanket. “I’m too tired for this, you guys are so immature.”

“Says the guy who coos at cat videos,” Kun shoots back. 

Ten whips around, a pout already formed on his face. Kun cringes and shields his face. “Cats are adorable. And you’re boring.”

“_ I’m _ boring? Who’s the one who slept almost an entire day away when we could have all gone to a movie together?”

“It was a boring movie. And you clearly needed the beauty rest, so I just made an excuse for you.”

“Are you sure I’m the one who needed beauty rest?”

“Wanna bet?”

Dejun groans as they continue to bicker. “At this point, they’ll never stop.”

("Bet he'd stop if his secret boyfriend told him to," Guanheng mutters. Dejun chokes.)

“Should I,” Yukhei pauses dramatically, “call Dongyoung hy-”

“Do _ not _ call Dongyoung,” Kun and Ten say as one. 

“He never. Stops. Nagging.”

“Years will pass before he’s finished.”

“My soup will burn before he even finishes saying hello.”

“Your soup is already burning,” Guanheng points out, wrapping himself around Dejun. 

Kun curses, frantically turns off the stove, gesturing for Yukhei to dump in his sautéed vegetables and Dejun to scrape in the garlic. Yangyang hesitantly pokes his head back in. “Is it safe to come in?”

Dinner is less successful than it would have been with Kun by himself, but Yukhei likes to think he and Dejun would have been perfect sous chefs if it weren’t for Yangyang’s antics. The dinner table is a mess of Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean, and English. Ten occasionally asks Guanheng for a phrase in English, then repeats it in Mandarin. Guanheng steals an entire plate of dumplings and guards them with his arms, playfully snapping at Yangyang’s fingers when he attempts to snag one. 

“Oh, wow, Chinese overload,” Chenle says as he lets himself in, dragging Jisung through the door with him. Jeno, Jaemin, and Renjun follow at a more sedate pace, looking dead on their feet. 

“Jaemin,” Yangyang cheers, making space for him to squeeze in. Chenle pokes at Yukhei’s arm until he makes space for him and Jisung, Jeno sitting next to Dejun and Renjun cuddling up to Kun like he does when he’s about to fall asleep. 

“We go up~” Jisung hums, eyes drooping and head resting on Chenle’s shoulder. Chenle cheerfully makes up a plate for the pair of them, laughing when Jisung’s head falls off his shoulder and he abruptly startles awake. 

Yukhei laughs when Ten mutters a few choice words to himself in Thai, picking up the gist of what he was saying. Ten’s head shoots up and he looks a little sheepish. “Oh, yeah. I forgot you can understand me now.”

Yangyang latches onto Yukhei’s arm. “What’d he say?”

“Not telling,” Yukhei says, laughing at the pout he gets in return. 

The dinner is nice and a great way to get all the heavy stuff off his mind, but Yukhei is happy when he gets to retreat to his room and close his eyes, glad he still has Kun’s muffled snoring to listen to in the absence of Jungwoo’s quiet exhales of air. His phone lays heavy on the bedspread next to him, waiting for the time difference to pass. 

Yukhei can barely keep his eyes open when Sicheng finally manages to text him. He scrambles awake, quickly unlocking his phone. 

** _Chenie _ **

heyyy

** _Hei_ **

sicheng geee!!! how was the recording???

** _Chengie_ **

good! The fans are very nice even though my english is terrible

we should be back tomorrow morning haha

** _Hei_ **

yaaaaay!!! See u soon <3

** _Chengie_ **

nice heart

sleep good

! 

<3

~.~

There’s something to be said for _ Pride and Prejudice _. When Yukhei finally gets down to reading it at 2am, having done nothing productive but stare at his ceiling and fail to catch any of those ever elusive z’s, it takes him seconds to pass out. 

He appreciates Sicheng’s attempt to get him to appreciate history, but historical books never fail to put him to sleep. Still, he managed to get through an entire chapter and drowsily plans to tell Sicheng all about Elizabeth, her overbearing mother and sisters, and the dashing Mr. Darcy. 

If there’s a dream about large houses, secret smiles, fancy suits, dances and star crossed lovers, it fades away with the morning dew. 

~.~

Yukhei does his best not to be impatient. He tries _ really _ , _ really _ hard. It doesn’t prevent him from glancing at the clock every few seconds, nearly running into Dejun during dance practice. When his phone finally rings, Yukhei practically throws himself across the floor, sliding on his knees to dig through his backpack. 

“Hello?”

_ “Yukheeeeeei, we’re here!” _

Yukhei lets out a shriek of delight and dashes out of the room, vaguely registering the rest of them trailing behind. He hops the stairs, nearly dropping his phone as he catches sight of Sicheng. 

“_ Geeeee _,” Yukhei hollers, almost knocking Sicheng off his feet with the force of his hug. Sicheng laughs, throwing his arms around Yukhei’s back and hugging him just as tightly. 

The rest of the WayV crew come crashing around them, Taeyong and Ten hitting the floor as Ten jumps on top of him. Guanheng runs straight into Jaehyun while Yangyang throws his weight at Dongyoung. Jungwoo, Taeil, Kun, and Dejun make a cuddle pile in the corner that Yuta ends up being dragged into. The dream kids come down moments later, Renjun and Jaemin teaming up to knock Haechan to the ground, Jeno and Chenle squeezing the life out of Mark while Jisung goes down the line with hugs, finally getting caught in Johnny’s embrace. 

The managers eventually manage to get them all up and out of the main lobby where they’re blocking the entrance. Taeyong bows to them sheepishly and the rest of them follow suit, Yukhei and Sicheng keeping their fingers interlocked. The dance instructor takes one look at them and cancels practice for the rest of the day. The vocal coaches, sensing a lost cause, do the same, which is how they end up having a house party in the dream dorm. There’s still a pool noodle sitting innocently in the corner that Yukhei gives a weary glance. Sicheng laughs at him for it, and Yukhei abruptly loses his train of thought. 

There’s food and on-the-spot speeches that they record for later blackmail, and Yukhei somehow finds himself squished in an armchair next to Sicheng. 

“Was the mini-tour fun?” Yukhei murmurs quietly. Sicheng hums, his head knocking gently against Yukhei’s.

“It was interesting,” Sicheng finally says, his eyes glued to the spectacle that is Dongyoung and Jeno trying to toss Oreos into each other’s mouths from opposite sides of the room. Yukhei wonders if it was the American air that made Dongyoung lose his mind or losing custody of their group’s singular brain cell to Jungwoo who, for some reason or another, is reading Shakespeare on the floor by Jaemin’s feet. 

Somewhere in between Johnny doing his best impression of Dongyoung’s photoshoot posing and Taeil cartwheeling into Yangyang and Renjun’s poorly constructed pillowfort, Yukhei ends up with his head in Sicheng’s lap, arms flailing as he does his best to describe that One Horrible Period DramaTM that Jaemin somehow sweet talked Yukhei into watching with him. Sicheng’s nose scrunches up with laughter and the words suddenly clog up in Yukhei’s throat. The light from Donghyuck’s flashlight he’s using to tell Jisung and Chenle ghost stories highlights his face, his eyes sparkling, his grin suddenly the most beautiful thing Yukhei has ever seen. His Mandarin stutters to a stop and all Yukhei can think is, _crap,_ _Jungwoo was right_.

“I think I have a crush on you,” Yukhei blurts, loudly and in Korean because he’s never learned how to not embarrass himself, and the entire dorm erupts in chaos. 

“I called it,” Ten shrieks, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a slip of paper that he waves around victoriously. “You losers owe me money.”

“No fair, I figured it out first,” Jungwoo complains, chucking his Shakespeare book at Ten, who neatly dodges it. “Hey, let’s rock-paper-scissor it out.”

“Uh, I think the hell not,” Ten says. “I’ve learned my lesson, and that it’s that chance always favors you.”

Jaehyun goes in for a dive tackle, and he and Johnny end up on the floor, wrestling and rolling about and knocking into the coffee table. Mark abruptly startles awake, the rice Donghyuck and Jisung have been flicking onto his hair for the past half hour scattering everywhere. 

“Lee Donghyuck and Park Jisung,” Mark shrieks, English curses rolling off his tongue and Donghyuck and Jisung go flying out of the room, Mark hot on their heels. 

“_ Did you mean it? _”

Yukhei blinks, looks up to see Sicheng staring down at him with the most blatant fondness Yukhei has ever seen. Yukhei feels his cheeks flush, suddenly realizing he’s still in the other’s lap. “_ Uh. Yes? _”

“_ Oh, good, _” Sicheng says, and kisses him. 

Yukhei’s glad he doesn’t have a stage for another three months, because everyone in the dorm screams, and he thinks he might’ve gone deaf. It’s worth it, though, for the shy smile Sicheng gives him when they part.

“_ I like you, too, _” Sicheng says sincerely, ignoring how Kun flops over in a dead faint. His secret boyfriend will surely revive him later. 

“_ Oh, _ ” Yukhei swallows, feeling his palms sweat and his heart skip a beat. “ _ Wanna go on a date? _”

~.~

Dating is awesome. Whoever invented it deserves a gold star, in Yukhei’s opinion. 

He and Sicheng go on dates all the time. In the dorm, in the cafeteria, in the dance rooms, and even the convenience store, when they have a bit of spare time. 

“Hanging out watching Twilight and eating popcorn does not count as a date,” Yangyang groans, “especially since, you know, all of us are here, too.”

“_ It totally counts _,” Sicheng counters in Mandarin, and then in Korean. “It counts, right?”

“Oh, totally,” Jaemin agrees from his perch across both Renjun and Jeno’s legs. 

Yangyang frowns at him. “I don’t think your opinion counts.”

“I don’t think _ your _ opinion counts,” Renjun tells him pettily, holding Jaemin’s hand with his head propped on Jeno’s shoulder. “You’re a baby.”

“Jisung’s a baby,” Jaemin says. “Yangyang is, like, a toddler or something.”

“Why am I the baby?” Jisung hisses, relaxing instantaneously as Chenle pets his hair. 

“See? Baby,” Jaemin says smugly. Jisung throws a piece of popcorn at him in retaliation. 

“One day,” Taeyong declares as Kun and Ten go darting past, bits of silly string falling off their clothes as they run holding hands (The Mystery of Kun's Secret Boyfriend: Solved?). Yukhei wants to know what that’s about, but Taeil’s murderous glare as he sprints after them discourages him from getting up and finding out. “_ One day _. We’ll have a totally normal, totally relaxed movie night where I won’t have to worry about broken bones or someone setting the dorm on fire.”

Donghyuck raises his hand. Taeyong sighs. “Yes?”

“Does it count if someone else left a paper towel on the stove? Because, in my defense, I was cooking and Yukhei was supposed to clear the area-”

“You set it on fire,” Yukhei complains, feeling attacked. “How was I supposed to know you left one on the actual stove?”

“_ Stop being such a big baby _,” Sicheng murmurs, snuggling further into Yukhei’s side.

“_ But I’m your big baby, right? _” Yukhei says shyly, happily giggling when Sicheng drops a kiss on his nose. 

Donghyuck crinkles his nose. “Oh, ew, they’re being domestic. Nevermind, I don’t care, just stop, please.”

“_ You _ don’t have to listen to what they’re saying,” Dejun whines. “My poor ears-”

“_ Wanna be my boyfriend? _” Sicheng asks above the din, laughing as Guanheng mimes gagging from where he’s hanging off a bar stool. 

Yukhei beams. Jungwoo smirks at him knowingly, arms crossed across his chest smugly. Yukhei will reluctantly admit that, in this one, singular case, Jungwoo was right. “_ Was there ever any question? _”

~.~

“So, how was learning Mandarin?” The interviewer asks Yukhei curiously. The seven of them are crowded on the stage, one month after debut. WayV is everything they’ve dreamed of and more.

Yukhei tilts his head, and sees Sicheng grinning out of the corner of his eye. “It wasn’t that hard. All the members helped me out, so I got a lot of practice.”

“Ah! So you and the other members help each other with learning new languages?”

“Yes,” Kun answers, taking the microphone and gesturing to them. “We all have different backgrounds, so it’s easy to practice with one another. There are times we can be speaking up to 5 languages in one sentence.”

“Wow, that’s impressive! And you all understand each other?”

Yukhei feels Sicheng grab his hand and bites his lip, smiling at the camera as he intertwines their fingers.

“Yeah,” Kun says, turning to give the rest of them a fond grin. “We understand each other perfectly.”

("So, did you just think of that on the spot, or-?" Guanheng starts once they get backstage. 

Kun growls, fist raised threateningly before Ten swings in, dropping a kiss on his cheek. The entire room freezes.

"See you later, 'kay babe?" Ten calls over his shoulder, nudging the door open with his hip and sauntering out to the vans.

Dejun is the first to react, leaping to his feet. "Taeyong ge owes me $50 bucks! Secret boyfriend, yeah right-I _knew_ I saw them making out at the Halloween party!"

Guanheng whistles. "That much? Dang-"

Kun makes a dying whale noise and collapses to the ground, Yangyang cackling and rapidly texting on his phone.

Sicheng grins at Yukhei and Yukhei grins back, everything else fading into the background. "You get me, right?"

"Yeah," Yukhei says fondly, thinks that it wouldn't matter what language Sicheng spoke. Yukhei would still be drawn to him, still find some way to understand him, still end up loving him. "I get you.")

**Author's Note:**

> lol you THOUGHT I was gonna end on a sweet note, but alas, the crack came through. Again. 
> 
> Also, if you haven't seen that Banana Milk youtube video 'NCT Ruining Twilight', you need to. I still haven't recovered.
> 
> Jiayou - basically good luck or you/we can do it in Mandarin
> 
> Geh weg - go away
> 
> ‘だ’ - a verb that basically means ‘to be,’ a state of being. A more literal translation is that it means something ‘is’, but ‘to be’ would be the English equivalent. 
> 
> kun ma-jaàk pra-teâd arai - Where are you from (formal)
> 
> ma-jaàk pra-teâd arai - Where are you from (informal)
> 
> Noo - means mouse, is a Thai nickname for calling your kids. This one I’m not so sure about, so if I am horrifically wrong, please correct me. 
> 
> A group of butterflies is called a kaleidoscope, or a swarm, in case you were curious. Wack, right?
> 
> So like, my German is conversational, my Korean is rudimentary at best and my Mandarin is absolutely atrocious, and beyond that I know like 10 phrases at most in Thai and absolutely nothing about Cantonese, the Wenzhou dialect and Japanese besides what I googled, so some of the grammar rules and pronunciation I tried to explain probably fell short despite the hours of research I put into them...Hope you enjoyed it nonetheless, and if you have any language-learning tips, feel free to share them! I need all the help I can get…
> 
> I tried to keep this as cannon as possible and realistic? If I made any sort of offensive comment or anything culturally incorrect, feel free to lemme know! I’m definitely continuing this series because I find both languages and NCT and their relationship with them so interesting! Keep supporting NCT! Love y’all <3


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